Tuesday, March 31, 2015

J. R. Dunn has written one of the best psycho-biographical
shapshots of Hillary Clinton, so I will quote it liberally, without adding much commentary.

After a quick run-through of Clintonian corruption and
amorality, Hillary and her husband’s ability to get away with things that would
destroy any other politician, Dunn arrives at the present day.

As a presumptive presidential candidate, Hillary has not
been doing well. In fact, she has been doing rather poorly.

Dunn explains:

No, the
simple fact of the matter is this: Hillary is tired.

It’s
hard work being corrupt. We see this in the rulers of the high medieval period
and the Renaissance -- prematurely aged kings, doges, and electors retiring to
country palaces and whiling away the days while ignoring their domains because
they just didn’t have it in them anymore.

I first
noticed this during the Benghazi hearings. Most took her infamous outburst as a blast
of pure venom, the words of a Messalina who was going to have these people in
the arena facing barbarian gladiators by this time tomorrow. But it didn’t
strike me that way. I saw it instead as an outbreak of petulance, the words of
someone pushed past the point of endurance and simply too weary to control
herself any longer. I still think so.

I, among others have suggested that Hillary will not be the
Democratic Party nominee. Dunn adds a nuance. Even if Hillary runs she will not
be running a full-on campaign.

For one, she is tired.

For another, she believes that the country owes her the
presidency. Why should she have to struggle to win it.

In Dunn’s words:

Hillary
is not going to run for president. Oh, she may put her name up. But run, as in the sense of actually
campaigning, that’s another story altogether

There have
been times that I’ve felt serious pity for Hillary. All of her efforts -- all
the bullshit, all the lies, all the public posturing -- have been so plainly
carried out to make up for an empty life. A life spent with a man who simply
could not control himself and valued her not at all. Consider how many times
she picked up the phone only to hear a hangup, how many strange perfumes she
smelled, how many stains she found on Bill’s clothing. Consider what such
knowledge -- particularly knowing that it would never end -- would do to a
normal woman. Then think for a moment of what it would do to someone like
Hillary. It would touch a heart of ice.

Because
it’s over. She will “run,” in the vaguest sense of the word. But it will all be
half-hearted, pure theater and nothing more. She will slough off debates,
perhaps even skipping them altogether. She will isolate herself, attempting a
kind of Garbo campaign, hoping that her “stature” will do the job for her. She
will trudge on, expecting that the presidency will be given to her. Because she
deserves it. Because she has suffered for it. Because she is Hillary.

What then, you ask? What will happen if we (again) make someone who is manifestly incompetent president because we want to
feel good about our purified souls?

Dunn takes the measure of the situation:

At a
critical time the chickens unleashed by Obama over the past two terms will be
homing in -- war in the Middle East, Iranian nukes, the inevitable Obama
recession. She will be in no state to handle it. Not any of it. The sine wave
tracking American politics over the past half-century is clear: Democratic
presidents take office only to drive the U.S. up against the wall and are
succeeded by Republicans who act to repair it, only for a new Democrat to
appear to resume demolition. With no repair work accomplished and a tired,
embittered, and beaten old woman in office, we will be in for some real
history.

3 comments:

re: the sine wave tracking American politics over the past half-century is clear: Democratic presidents take office only to drive the U.S. up against the wall and are succeeded by Republicans who act to repair it, only for a new Democrat to appear to resume demolition.